1) In what ways does your music magazine use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real music magazines?  

Title of my Magazine

For the masthead of my magazine I used the font “Broadway” and added the effect of italics and bold. In order to complete this, I used PowerPoint office as it enabled me to experiment with various colours, fonts and effects with n o difficulty. In terms of colour, I stuck to neutral colours such as white, blue, grey, and purple, with slight hints of black throughout. These colours are also associated with ‘current’ themes, therefore giving off the impression to the readers the newspaper is ‘current, and in fashion’ – linking to my magazine. The masthead for my magazine does typically follow the codes and conventions of real magazines as “Jukebox Block” is italic and bold; an effect, image, and style many current magazines have. On the other hand, the colours do not follow the typical magazine expectations as many tend to be reds, whites and blacks, whereas mine is purple. I personally think my masthead works because it combines the conventional and unconventional features of a masthead, therefore having a slight ‘twist’ to it, making it unique and therefore more eye-catching and memorable.

Mise-en-Scene I used a variety of settings for my photos, varying from a college computer room, outside, being beside a river (Wallingford) and a social gathering event, as well as a bedroom. I think it is important to have various surroundings within photographs, or at least to experiment with them, because this gives you a wider sight of creativity and uniqueness. In terms of lighting, I also broadened out my options as some photographs have been taken at night, and some during daylight. This follows the conventions of all magazines as every magazine I have research have the use of various lightings throughout the photographs used.

Manipulation of photograph. Light – Dark.

For my double spread page, I used a Medium Close Up shot. The position of my model gives the reader a full on impression, and automatically relates the article to the photograph. Using Photoshop I manipulated my photograph by darkening it and rounding off the edges, making the photo feel and look ‘smoother’ giving off a friendly effect. I challenged magazine conventions as most magazines I researched upon use coloured photos. I personally thought the idea of having a black and white photograph would make more of an appeal to my magazine as it is ‘different’ and unexpected, but in a fashionable way. The rest of my photos follow the conventions of magazines by displaying the models used as friendly, easy to relate to and, in terms of positioning, close ups therefore making the reader understand more due to the face expressions, in which sets the mood.

Costumes and Props The costumes and props used within my photographs for my artist, portrays her as a style icon. This is due to the fact that what she is wearing is very fashionable and ‘up-to-date’ clothing. This reflects to my magazine and portrays a positive current image for today’s society of pop and R’n’B music.

The photograph shown portrays the band as ‘easy-going’ therefore easy to relate to, ensuring viewers and readers of a friendly feel to the magazine. In terms of what they are wearing, again is conventional as

it is fashionable, therefore keeping their image of ‘looking good’ such as ‘style icons.’

People   The people that are featured in my magazine are quite typically conventional. This is because they’re quite young, a decent age where a music career starts to take exceed. Within magazines I have researched, many of them have 3 or more members in their group, therefore making my magazine conventional. In terms of gender I have portrayed both, therefore cannot be categorised as biased. As well as this, I have also differentiated my use of people with different ethnicity backgrounds.

Font and Styles Based on the font choice, I purposely stayed unconventional. This was portrayed through the style I added, with the italics and bold, and the different font itself. Most magazines consist of standard fonts such as ‘Arial’ or completely unique styles such as MV Boli. My font is easy to understand but has more interest towards it as it isn’t a popular font, therefore something new for the readers to see, without getting bored of repeatedly seeing the same font. To make it more intriguing, I added an outer glow to the font and a drop shadow. I also filled in with a purple colour, therefore not sticking to conventional ways, as this is not a popular choice of colour for a music magazine title; however I feel that this will appeal more to my teenage audience because of its visual impact. On the other hand the title is conventional in the sense that it has the largest font size on the page, apart from my masthead, and it’s bold and stands out.

Other fonts I have used consist of either italics or shadowed, adding effect to everything that has been produced on my product, in order to attract and broaden my variety of readers.

Written Content The written content of my magazine follows the codes and conventions of current music magazines as it consists of covering similar topics in the questions. For example, the artist’s concerts, upcoming gigs and their chart hits, and tours. All of these topics could be found in a real music magazine aimed at teenagers and young adults, in which I can confirm due to my magazine research. The language I used was smooth, and chatty, therefore making more people feel comfortable and easy to relate to. As the music genre is easily recognisable and very popular, the written content also had to be, so they both linked and as a result, portray a positive image of my media product.

How is the genre reflected in your magazine? The main genre of my music magazine mainly consists of R’n’B, with slight elements of Drum ‘n’ Bass and Hip-hop. This is portrayed clearly as the ‘soft’ colours represent fluent music, whereas if my genre was rock, dark colours would represent this as it is loud, sharp, and heavy. The reason as to why I chose this genre was due to my knowledge and appeal towards it, and also my research proved this was one of the most popular and recognisable genres of music currently existing. Existing music magazines suggest their genre through colour scheme, images, fonts and featured artists in which I have therefore kept to magazine codes and conventions.

Layout The layout of my magazine is mainly conventional. This is highlighted on the double page spread which displays an interview in a column with a photograph of the artist,

therefore representing the article. In addition to this, the photos are arranged at various angles throughout, in which I discovered through my research is very popular and conventional. My front cover follows layout conventions by having the masthead at the top of the page, photographs and captions underneath with other advertisements. On the other hand, my main photograph does not follow magazine conventions as typically, photos are placed in a straight position, whereas I decided to slightly tilt my photograph adding more effect to the front cover.

Conclusion; Usage of Codes and Conventions within my music magazineOverall, I have followed popular and typical codes and conventions, as this will make it more readable and recognisable to the reader, but have added and varied the way in which I have done so. For example, I followed the conventions within my front cover by having a dominant photo, telling a story, but I have made it different, simply by moving it a little therefore it doesn’t look as common as standard music magazines. Throughout my music magazine I have followed the conventions, but with my own twist.

Snapshot showing my front cover

photograph is tilted to the left – therefore not

following magazine codes and

conventions.

2) How does your music magazine represent particular social groups ?  The social group I aimed to specify my music magazine towards was teenagers, and those that are interested and have a passion for current music such as R’n’B, Hip Hop and Drum’n’Bass. The way in which I have represented my musical artists differentiates from the scene, lighting, and the costume. They are all linked as they are representing the same genre of music but all have uniqueness and offer different factors to my magazine. The clothing varies but is easy to relate to as females can relate to wearing dresses and heels for a night out, whereas males can easily relate to wearing sunglasses in the sun with loose clothing.

3) What Kind of Institution Would Distribute Your Product and Why?My chosen institution and distributer is Bauer Media to distribute my magazine because it has over 80 influential media brands and reaches over 19 million people. It already distributes music magazines, therefore will have many loyal customers in which have received great service, leading to loyal actions in which they may want to try a new music magazine, “Jukebox Block.” As they are dealing with so many media brands, this makes Bauer Media an extremely reliable and trustworthy distributer.

4) Who would be the audience for your media product? My music product is aimed from 16-30 year olds, and those in a wider range age bracket that are still interested in today’s society of music, both male and female. My aim from the beginning was for both sexes, but from feedback received, my magazine could be perceived slightly towards females, due to the use of the colour purple so much. My audience, in terms of clothing would wear the latest trends, or a mix of their own stylish trend. They are outgoing, very loveable people who enjoy having a good time but like to support and be there for those they love when needed. They love to take photos and reminisce on the good times; and look forward to summer when they can relax and listen to their favourite music whilst having a drink and reading their favourite music magazine.

5) How did you attract/address your audience? I used many techniques to attract and aim for the audience I have. I used normal Standard English language in order for my audience to understand everything that has been produced, and didn’t structure it to a complicated level. All photographs clearly represent the articles consisting within my magazine therefore not confusing my audience. I created a music magazine that was enjoyable, updating and fulfilling in terms of gossip and entertainment. Throughout my magazine, I used a few different fonts, keeping the reader interested. Using a few fonts enhances interest and keeps it restricted so it’s not ‘in your face.’ For my mast head I used a bold, italic, underlined, title standing out in order to catch the reader’s eye, making it memorable. The colour scheme throughout remains the same, therefore making the reader aware it is all the same magazine. My contents page is easily read and understood, being represented by photographs what articles will be featuring in my magazine, therefore enabling them to find it easy to relate to. My double-page spread, I felt would really catch the reader’s eye. This is due to the artist taking the readers eye, and also wanting to find out the latest news, therefore enjoying it as it is in an interview format, the readers know it is factual, and don’t feel they have to read chunks of writing. The artist speaks to the audience using words such as “we”, therefore making the reader feel part of the situation and included, increasing attention span. Throughout, the photographs I used consisted of models looking fashionable, therefore role models to some readers, and expanding their eye for fashion. In order to improve, I should have widened or been more specific with my colour choice as my research brought to my attention that it is slightly more suitable for females, rather than males. I laid my magazine out in a clear and modern style, with a variety of fonts and sizes, in order to make it look interesting and futuristic. The layout of my magazine cover is what a magazine would usually look like, which I thought worked best in the music magazines I looked at in my research. I think the layout

of my magazine would appeal to my audience because it was easy to read yet each page had a modern but different unique point that my audience should find interesting.

6) What Have You Learnt About Technologies From The Process of Constructing This Product?

This is the pink Samsung laptop I used to start creating my media product with. I also used college computers which were very useful and had more software for more technical tasks needed, such as Photoshop and InDesign.

This is the memory stick I used to transfer work I completed from the college computers to my laptop, and vice versa.

This is the camera I used on my phone (Blackberry Bold 9700) in order to

do proof pictures.

This Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W150, is the camera I used for my preliminary, research and main tasks.

I learnt how to use “Adobe Photoshop” by creating my magazine and editing my photos on it, making some of my features look very interesting.

I learnt how to use “InDesign” which I never came across before. This helped a lot with my front cover.

In order for me to complete and upload my work, I had to create a Blogger account. This is where all of my media work produced will go.

To ensure my work was uploaded, I had to create a slide share account which enabled me to upload my work from my computer, which then converted it into a link, which I then posted on my blogger account, and it uploaded as a whole piece of work.

Powerpoint was another programme I used to complete my Media. Powerpoint is easy to work and understand, and great to make a simple piece of work look very effective.

Paint was another programme I used whilst creating my Media product. Whilst snapshotting my work, I cropped using paint.

Overall I have learnt a lot about technology throughout this project; before creating my magazine I'd never used Slideshare, Blogger or InDesign. Now I have accomplished how to work these programmes, I feel confident in using them again.

7) Looking back at your preliminary task (the school magazine task) what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Main work

Preliminary Work

Since creating my college magazine my knowledge of using Photoshop, InDesign and Powerpoint has increased dramatically. For example I now know how to make elements of my magazine stand out more by using drop shadows and outer glows. I also now know how to dominate a photo and how to use different effects, by blending them in. In addition to this, I learnt how to select parts of photos using the quick selection tool in order to cut things out (Photoshop) I now know how to use these programmes more efficiently and effectively. Overall my understanding of the software has improved greatly throughout this project. Beforehand, I had barely ever used Photoshop and had never came across InDesign.